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Published on Saturday, Dec 22, 2007
Associated Press
COLUMBUS: Police say hundreds of people in five states are victims of identity theft after someone got their Social Security numbers from a municipal court Web site.
Someone fed random numbers into the Franklin County Municipal Court Web site, hoping to find someone with one of the numbers. Once the thief made a connection, the person's name, address, age and other information was used to obtain credit cards and open bank accounts.
The Web site contains personal information for thousands of people charged with misdemeanors.
The victims, from Ohio, Kentucky, South Carolina, Texas and Wyoming, might not realize their identities were stolen, Worthington police detective Ted Paxton said.
The suburban police department turned the information over to the Secret Service because it investigates identity theft and because the case included so many victims, Paxton said.
Municipal Court Clerk Lori Tyack said Friday the thefts are so widespread that police don't fully know the scope yet.
Worthington police have seized the records and computers of two people, who have implicated others, said Sgt. John Slaughter.
The investigation began when a 22-year-old Worthington woman reported unauthorized purchases on her credit card.
The Municipal Court Web site has allowed public searches of court records since 2001 and generates more than 16,000 hits per day.
After getting the Social Security numbers, the suspects would use that information to obtain an online credit report, Tyack said.
The suspects would then figure out what credit cards an individual had, contact the companies to report a stolen card, provide a new address and receive new cards, she said.
The court has shut down the function that allows searches by Social Security number or driver's license and is working on a secure way to provide that function to police, lawyers, background check companies and others.
Get the full article here.
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